Marble Hornets
Part: 2
10.5x7
Watercolour
I had to reblog this. Props to hplovecraft for the amazing watercolor paintings.
Hey everyone:
I just fixed a particularly weird bug on the comment system for the site: links that you followed from Facebook were being treated as different from links that you could view on the blog itself. I fixed the bug (with a little JavaScript), but some of your comments may have gotten eaten by the Bug Monster. Sorry.
But while I’m talking about comments, please do comment on my posts. I would love to post about topics that my readers are interested in listening to. And you can still ask me questions.
To Kill A Virus
So not even an hour after I posted my response to idealibertarianist’s survey, my roommate came in asking for help about a programming assignment. When he pulled in his Vista laptop, I noticed that there was an overzealous antivirus program that kept popping up. I asked him about it, and he told me that he never installed it.
Uh-oh.
Turns out that this was the infamous Vista Antivirus Pro, a particularly nasty rogue security program that tries to scam you into buying a subscription. It also, unfortunately, exhibits virus-like symptoms. This particular variation blocked any webpage that you tried to visit in Internet Explorer (the only browser installed on his machine) and added pop-ups unrelated to anything. As an added bonus, if you killed the process, it would respawn the process after a minute, and it would mask the location of its executable file from the Task Manager.
The wonderful part came when I was trying to remove the virus’s files. I thought I came pretty close to finding the program’s location, so I tried to pull up a command prompt to nuke the file. The computer waited for a couple seconds, and then gave me an error telling me that it doesn’t recognize files of that type. I tried a couple other programs, all with the same result. Rebooting in safe mode gave me the same error. Bork.
We eventually had to do a system restore; the damage the virus had wreaked was already too much by the time I had started to treat the infection. But it got me into thinking about my security, and what I’ve been doing.
First of all, I’ve been using the Mac OS X operating system as my primary boot for a long time. Not to say that Mac doesn’t get viruses (it can), but they are far more unlikely than on the Windows side and usually require that you give your root password at a key time. I don’t do that too often. Even if the Mac side of things were to get screwed up (which it never has for me), OS X is based on UNIX, whose system file structure is well-documented. Virus removal would be simple.
I have Windows 7 Professional installed on a Bootcamp partition. I only use Windows 7 for maybe about an hour at a time, and I only run programs as a non-administrator user (unless forced at gunpoint). I try my best not to open a web browser, and if I do, I use Google Chrome. I also run ClamWin and Symantec Endpoint Protection (the latter mostly because Cal Poly doesn’t accept ClamWin as a valid anti-virus. Weak, you guys). It’s a pretty minimalist setup, but I think that’s what has kept me virus-free for so long.
I know none of this is ground-breaking journalism—the point I’m trying to make is that there are simple measures that any user can take to bolt down their computer:
- Never do day-to-day tasks in an administrator account. This applies mostly to Windows, as most UNIX-based operating systems still put restrictions on what administrators can do, but it’s still good advice.
- Never run a program from a site that you don’t entirely trust. Running a program is like letting a person into your home—you better be sure he or she won’t try to knife you.
- Install anti-virus software. I really do recommend ClamWin. It’s pretty good at this stuff. And don’t get the fake programs, either (damn you Vista Antivirus!).
- Don’t use Internet Explorer. I keep finding more security holes in that program as the years go on. Just switch to something else.
- Keep regular backups. Sometimes, the best solution to a computer woe is to nuke the operating system from orbit. You need to be able to do that rather readily, if necessary. Backups are how you can.
These tips should keep you safe as you operate your computer, and they’re pretty common knowledge in the geek circles. As the old proverb goes, “A megabyte of prevention is worth a gigabyte of cure.”
Survey!
If you guys could facebook/tumblr message me with your answers, that’d be awesome.
Okay!
Survey:
On a scale from 1 to 10, how good would you say you are with computers?
10
Do you know what to do if your computer suddenly stops working or won’t turn on?
Dig through some drawers to find the OS install disc.
Do you know what to do if you can’t make a program work properly, or do what you want it to do?
Yes.
Do you think your computer is properly protected from malware and viruses?
Not per se, but I’m at a lesser risk than most because I keep up with security blogs, know how to dodge scams and vulnerabilities, and have a Mac.
If you use an anti-virus, please list it.
For when I load Windows 7 on Bootcamp, ClamWin is my antivirus of choice.
Do you know what to do if your computer is running slowly?
It’s daemon-hunting time. Pull out the kill -9.
If there were a short, low- or no-cost class that would explain how to do the above things and more, would you attend?
Probably not.
This has got to be the creepiest commercial I’ve seen in a while. Leave it to Microsoft…
What are we saying with this commercial? If you use Bing, you’ll get eaten by a vampire? I just felt violated after seeing this commercial on TV.
Barbie, whose various careers have taken her from aerobics instructor to supermodel to business executive, will next be a computer engineer, a career chosen by half a million Barbie fans.
Computer Engineer Barbie still has her trademark cascade of blond hair, impossibly small waist, feet frozen on tiptoes to slide into her high heels and a whole lot of hot pink.
I’m not even sure what to think about this. Any thoughts from my readers?
